Program on the natural history of the Southern Appalachians

Jennifer Frick-Ruppert, ecologist and author of Mountain Nature: A Seasonal Natural History of the Southern Appalachians, will appear at noon on Friday, Sept. 17, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. The lunch with the author program is devoted to the natural history of the mountain area.

Frick-Ruppert is associate professor of ecology and environmental science at Brevard College. Her new book explores the animals and plants of the Southern Appalachians and the webs of interdependence that connect them. The book is organized around the seasons, giving readers a full cycle of the year in the mountains.

Hikers and readers interested in nature and ecology are encouraged to attend this informal discussion and reading. Attendees may bring their own meal.

The Naturalist's Corner

My family and I made a quick run up to Waterrock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway around dusk last Sunday (July 19) to get a peek at some celestial luminaries. Venus and Jupiter joined the waxing crescent moon on the western horizon. They danced and played hide and seek amidst layered clouds whose purple backs touched the night while their bellies bathed in the last yellow and orange rays of the sun falling over the western horizon. It was a beautiful, tranquil setting.